Tag: datsun

If you’ve been following me on Instagram (@buildthreads) you might have seen a story I posted on the weekend showing some upcoming mods planned for the car. One of those being a fresh set of rubber! The tyres I had on the car were getting close to a decade in age, and even after a couple of track days, skid pans, and plenty of mountain runs, they just wouldn’t quit. While the tread was still plentiful, the compound had become hard and useless (yay free horsepower!), and a great deal on some Hankook R-s3s saw me getting the credit card out.

The remnants of a Datsun240Z, a late-model engine swap, a whole lot of tubing, and a slathering of carbon fibre thrown in for good measure. This is a complete ground-up build if I’ve ever seen one. The thread actually started in 2009, so there are a few dead links, but all the oily bits are still there for us to enjoy.

You can check out the owner’s website here: Z-car. Thanks to Geoff for submitting (waaay back in 2014!).

When I posted a small update about my own Datsun the other day, it reminded me of a build that I’ve been meaning to post for a while. This car may share a model name and basic shape with my own, but that’s where the similarities end. This 510 has been cut, chopped, grinded and welded to within an inch of it’s life, now sitting on airbagged Toyota truck suspension with an angry rotary engine on tyre smoking duties. It may look rusty on the outside, but underneath that wonderful patina are some surgical-grade underpinnings.

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you would have seen me post about Mike at least a few times. Mike is the owner of the 1UZ Supra (along with the world’s most insane welding cart) that I featured back in 2013, a car that belongs to what I call the best build thread of all time. After working at The Roadster Shop for a few years, Mike was keen to start a bigger and better project from the ground up with his highly developed skill set. While this build has been gaining traction on Instagram for a while now, it’s only in the past few days that Mike has made a build thread on a forum, so I wanted to get you guys on board as soon as possible. Get yourself acquainted with this build, because I guarantee you’re going to see it all over the internet!

After sifting through a mammoth 350+ page thread for last weeks featured build, it was a nice change of pace to receive an email from Matt Clark, a designer who has his automotive and non-autmotive work featured on his Tumblr page. Matt has built an assortment of cars from various eras and genres, each of which he’s applied his personal touch to, and I must say he certainly has a knack when it comes to cars. There’s something in here for everyone, ranging from a Datsun Roadster, some Camaros (one special one that you may have seen in a video), through to a couple of Hondas, and even a MitsubishiStarion!

It’s been a hell of a long time since any real work was done to Project 510. In fact, looking back at the archives, it’s been around 2 and a half years since I ripped it apart and fitted my FMIC and supporting mods! In that time I have driven the car plenty of times (including a track day and skid pan), which is what it’s built for, so I can’t complain about that. Let’s not forget I also built a garage recently, so that counts for something, too! (I should probably also mention at this point that my wife gave birth to our first child at the end of March)

Yes, I’m biased towards Datsuns (and especially 510s), but what did you expect!? Build Threads Discussion Group member John recently posted up this video that was created about his F20C 510 build. It’s a great piece that gives you an insight into not only the build of the car, but the owner, too, which is always a nice touch. You can read more about the car in this in-depth article from the guys over at MotoIQ.

Yesterday in Melbourne we were gifted with a gorgeous sunny day to mark the start of summer. It also happened to be the same day as Classic Japan, a casual car show catering for Japanese cars and motorbikes that are 25 years or older. No prizes, no trophies, no egos, just a congregation of the states oldschool JDM owners and fans. It had been a while since I had driven the datto after experiencing some periodic teething problems since completing my FMIC project, so I was ecstatic to be able to have it back in action just the day before the show and enjoy a full two days of trouble-free driving. I didn’t take my camera with me, but my good friend Tony from The Motor Report was snapping away and has given me his blessing to share his images here. Click the images for full-size hi-res shots.

It’s been over a year since my Datsun was featured in Fast Fours & Rotaries magazine, so I thought I’d upload the full article to the site for those who don’t have access to this particular publication. I would like to once again say thanks to Ryan Lewis for writing the story and Jun Sawa for the photography, it was an honour for my car to grace the pages of a magazine that I was glued to whilst growing up.